Over the years, personal watercraft (PWC) have evolved to become larger and more powerful. The additional power means that they can easily tow a person practicing a nautical sport such as wakeboarding or water skiing. Some PWC can now accommodate three riders or more. This means that there is enough room on the PWC for a driver, a wakeboarder/waterskier, and a spotter for watching the wakeboarder/waterskier when this person is being towed behind the PWC.
In order to make PWC better suited for wakeboarding and waterskiing, some PWC now include features specifically designed for these sports. Some PWC now have racks to hold the wakeboard or water skis when not in use, as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,753, issued Feb. 20, 2001, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. Some PWC have tow poles which provide a higher attachment point for a tow rope than the tow hooks typically found on PWC, as in U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,014, issued Oct. 31, 2006, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. The higher attachment point makes aerial manoeuvres easier to perform for the wakeboarder/waterskier.
One important aspect of wakeboarding and waterskiing is the shape and size of the wake generated by the watercraft pulling the wakeboarder/waterskier (i.e. the track of waves left by the watercraft). The wakeboarder/waterskier uses the wake as a ramp to launch himself/herself in the air to perform aerial manoeuvres. The quality of the wakes generated by PWC is usually lower than that of the wakes generated by boats due to the smaller hulls and lighter weight of PWC.
To improve the quality of their wakes, many boats use a system of ballasts disposed inside the boat to increase the weight of the boat when the boat is used for wakeboarding/waterskiing. This has the advantage of not permanently increasing the weight of the boat. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,788, issued Apr. 4, 2000. However, PWC do not have sufficient room between their hull and deck to accommodate such systems.
Another solution consists of adding a ballast tank somewhere on the deck of the watercraft, such as the container described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,835. However, when installed on a PWC, most of these take up a substantial amount of room on the deck, thus making reboarding the PWC from the water difficult. Also, securely fastening these to the PWC to prevent movement of the tanks can prove difficult and inconvenient.
Therefore, there is a need for a system or device for improving the wake generated by PWC.